The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) have today announced an update to first aid qualification expiry dates for those who have been affected by COVID-19 and have been unable to requalify. Originally the HSE stated that everyone who expired on or after the 16th March had until the 30th September 2020 to complete a requalification course. This has now been superseded by the statement below. Today the HSE has announced that for England, Scotland and Wales (we expect the HSE Northern Ireland to follow suit shortly), all learners who expired on or after the 16th March 2020 will be given an extension until the 31st October 2020 or a 6 month extension on their current expiry date, whichever is the latest. The HSE have stated that the 31st March 2021 is the latest possible date a qualification can be extended until so learners expiring in January 2021 will not get a full 6 month extension and will only be extended until the HSE deadline of the 31st March 2021.
The full HSE statement can be found here.
The FAA have created the table below to help implement this for your learners and trainer/assessors:
If you are still unsure please email us with your original certificate date and we willl calculate and confirm the new expiation date. The service is available to everyone free of charge, just email info@train-direct.co.uk
This extension applies to both learner and trainer/assessor qualifications. The normal FAW requalification rules apply in the same way as normal, taking the new extended expiry date as the point of expiry. Please note that learners cannot act as a first aider in the workplace, a trainer/assessor cannot teach or assess and an IQA cannot conduct internal quality assurance, if they have not completed a requalification course before their extended expiry date. The HSE statement applies to:
FAA Award in First Aid at Work
FAA Award in Emergency First Aid at Work
FAA are applying the same extension and requalification rules to:
FAA Award in Activity First Aid
FAA Award in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Automated External Defibrillation
FAA Award in Basic Life Support and Safe Use of an Automated External Defibrillator
FAA Award in Oxygen Therapy Administration
FAA Award in Immediate Management of Anaphylaxis
FAA Award in First Aid Risk Assessment - Principles and Practice
FAA Award in Outdoor First Aid
FAA Award in Forestry First Aid
FAA Award in Basic Life Support
Paediatric First Aid Please note that the FAA Award in Paediatric First Aid and FAA Award in Emergency Paediatric First Aid are not covered by this new rule. Paediatric first aid is the responsibility of the Department for Education and, as per our August newsletter, they have extended all paediatric qualifications until the 25th November 2020 at which point they will expire unless requalification training has been completed.
We are still able to deliver COVID-19 safe training onsite at your place of work, should you have a group of up to 12 employees this can be a cost effective way to get the Ofqual Regulated First Aid Training you need. For more information check out the onsite training section of our website.
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